Where Loyalties Lie
by Kipcha
Summary: Daryl is Rick's right-hand man. Merle's noticed and he ain't happy about it.
1. Chapter 1

_Rated for Merle's potty mouth._

* * *

"You and Officer Friendly over there got close, didn't cha?"

Daryl glanced up, his eyes narrowing slightly as he continued the repetitive motions of cleaning his crossbow, removing the spatter of some random geek and leaving its surface smooth and polished. He didn't give a damn how filthy and beat up he looked, but he always took pride and care in the weapon. It was his greatest ally in this Hell, he needed to make sure it was well cared for.

It didn't stop his hands from tightening their hold, his heart rate spiking the tiniest bit.

"What're you talkin' about Merle?" Muttered Daryl, trying to keep his anger in check. He knew the way Merle thought. Surely his brother wasn't implying...

Merle chuckled, shaking his head. "Calm down little brother, I know you ain't no faggot. I didn't raise you like tha'. Naw, I just meant you two were tight, you know?"

Daryl turned his gaze back down to the crossbow. "What of it?"

Merle seemed to pause, his eyebrow raising slightly as if he were surprised by something.

"He's batshit, that's what." Merle leaned back against the wall, placing his hand and stump behind his head, his mouth falling into a smirk with ease. "I ain't been here too long but I see it. I know you do too."

Daryl felt his jaw tighten slightly. "He'll be all 'ight."

Merle's head cocked, his voice turning low and cunning. "We ain't got no room for nut jobs."

"We took you in, didn't we?"

Merle chuckled, nodding in acknowledgment. "Yeah, but Rick out there... He's a different kind a crazy. Talking to himself, seeing things... Scary stuff. Makes a man... Unpredictable."

Daryl lifted the crossbow, satisfied by its once again immaculate appearance. He lifted it, checking it's sight by directing the crosshairs at Merle's face. "We ain't tossin' him out. He's been through a lot, he'll get over it. He has before, he led us all win'er."

"Ain't like he's the only one who's been through a lot." Merle answered darkly, lifting his stump for emphasis. "But you made yourself clear on tha', didn'tcha? Said I was askin' for it?"

"Rick's a good man." Was Daryl's simple answer, refusing to be manipulated. Too many times had he taken the bait Merle dangled in front of his face, he was a smarter man then that now.

People always accused his brother of being an idiot. Inbred redneck trash. That was usually their downfall. See, Merle was smarter than most gave him credit for. He could say things that got under your skin before you knew it and you didn't even have a chance to get it back out. Before long, the words were left to fester and putrefy, making you wonder about things. Get you to see it his way. He'd fallen victim to this time and time again.

But not this time. He was smarter, he wasn't that little snot nosed brat doggin' at his brothers heels.

It wasn't all 'bout him no more.

"And what about the day when he loses it, huh?" Merle settled himself in, that self-satisfied smirk never leaving his older brothers face. "All I know is, ya best be hopin' he turns that gun on himself and not everyone else."

"Rick wouldn't do that." Daryl snapped sharply, his words solid and certain. "He ain't weak and he ain't the kind to opt out. No' like that, 'specially with Carl and Asskicker. He's tougher then ye' think Merle."

Merle's smirk shrunk, just the tiniest bit. "What you defendin' him for anyways. Unless you really are just a faggot."

"I ain't no faggot." Daryl snarled, his eyes flashing dangerously. "In case you haven't noticed, I done nothing but defend you since we got here. None o' them think you're worth nothin' Merle."

"That's cause they're all jus' uppity bastards. No different than before the biters rose up."

"No, it's cause you turned a Walker on a man duct taped to a damn chair! Cause you couldn't keep your damn mouth shut! You ain't learned nothin' since that roof, have ya?" Daryl growled, his irritation building. "They don't trust you, you gotta put some effort in. You gotta try, Merle. Cause I can only protect you for so long. Rick tol' me that anything you do now is on me. They ain't gonna toss me out, but you ain't done nothin' to earn your keep."

"What makes you think they won't toss you out too, huh?" Merle hissed, any sign of ease gone from his posture, his muscles hard and rigid. He looked seconds away from snapping, but he held himself together. He'd been like that ever since seeing those... Ugly things on his back. Like he was afraid of crossing some line.

He didn't realise that him seeing it changed nothing. That he couldn't reconcile or take back what had happened. What's done is done and Daryl had moved on.

Or so he told himself.

But now wasn't the time for that. On the surface, this was about Rick, but somehow something else lingered at the edges, something dark and angry that Merle was keeping hidden.

Daryl didn't have time for these fuckin' mind games right now and his patience was quickly wearing thin.

"They won't toss me out cause we're family." He spat, knowing the words would hurt Merle whether he showed it or not. He saw the older man's eyes flicker with something that looked like betrayal and he felt a moment of dark satisfaction. He knew he'd regret it later, but at the moment he was too damned pissed and it felt good to hurt him. To show Merle how it felt to be the one left behind."We stick together, we have for a long time now. They took me in after you left, they treat me like I'm worth somethin'. I ain't givin' that up! I belong here, Merle!"

"They_ ain't_ your family!" Merle snarled viciously, standing to his feet and his face twisting into something that Daryl would have once found terrifying. Even now, something deep inside him quivered, wanting to bow his head and duck away, make himself small and weak before this hulking presence. Not because he truly thought Merle would hurt him like that, like their Father had, but because at times like this they looked so similar.

But the flame inside his belly rose, his fury giving him the strength to stare his brother straight in the eye, his knuckles turning white.

"They may not be blood, but they are my family now." Daryl said, his voice never wavering. "You smarten up, you can be too."

Merle blew a breath through his nostrils, his face flushed with rage as he glowered. "You expect me to change? After all we been through, you want me to become somethin' different to impress your new pals? You used to be happy when it was us, little brother."

"I cared enough to leave with ye'." Daryl answered, "I may 'ave come back, but I was willin' to give it a try. I've always been the one to change, to evolve so I could follow you. Jus' this one time, Merle, I need you to try. I wan' you to become _better_. I want you to_ stay_."

Daryl turned, stepping outside the door and turning to close it, ignoring the shocked look on Merle's face as he clicked the lock into place, something that had become habit since the Dixon's had returned. Merle was either with Daryl or locked in the cell and while they had rebelled against it at first, it had simply become routine.

Merle stood still, his mouth working with words he couldn't express. He wanted to say something, anything, but he couldn't think of _what_.

"Rick isn't a bad man." Daryl told him quietly. "None of these people are bad. They could be your family too, ya know. It's a long ways off, 'specially after Glenn and Maggie bu'... It could work. They've forgiven before. I know we used to talk about not needin' anyone else but..." He paused, searching his thoughts. "It's... Nice."

Merle stepped towards the bars, his eyes sweeping over his brothers profile. Steady and firm, his eyes filled with a grim determination.

Without waiting for a reply, Daryl turned heel and moved swiftly, his feet flying down the stairs and he disappeared from view. He distantly heard the Chinese... Korean... Whatver boy tell him that Rick was on watch outside.

"Good." Came his brothers voice, moving towards the doors that lead outside. The door that he himself wasn't allowed to step through. His brother was leavin' and there wasn't a fuckin' thing he could do abou' it. "I need ta blow off some steam."

The steps echoed and he was gone.

Merle ran a hand over his head, the short stubble prickling his fingers as he wheezed a quiet breath. An emotion he didn't want to name burst inside his chest, somethin' he'd been feeling more often then not now that they had come to this goddamn prison. An emotion he'd first felt when he saw his brothers hesitation to leave the group, when he saw how familiarly him and that damned cop had spoken.

He whirled, his foot lashing out and colliding painfully with the concrete wall, his mind clouded with jealousy. He bellowed in frustration, ignoring the way the conversation below turned silent as his temper overflowed.

"AW, FUCK Y'ALL!"

He threw himself down on to his meager mattress, his hands clenching furiously in the thin blanket he'd been provided.

Fuck em'. He'd done just fine alone before, he'd be alrigh' again.

He closed his eyes and tried to bury the empty feelings down where not even he could find him.

Because he definitely wasn't fucking lonely.

* * *

_I was never a Merle fan but even I gotta admit... I got a whole new look on him after that episode "Home". The way he looked like he was going to cry when he saw those scars... Oh, my feels T.T_

_Anyways, there's going to be one more chapter of this, so keep a lookout. I'll try to get it out fast, which shouldn't be too hard since the Walking Dead fics seem to be going without an end in sight. There are just too many fascinating characters to play with here._


	2. Chapter 2

_Rated for Merle's potty mouth._

* * *

"Dinner."

Merle stirred, blinking away the fogginess of slumber as he craned his neck, only to collapse it again with an irritated sigh. He may not be sharp right now, but there was no way he could mistake the lean figure of Rick fuckin' Grimes.

"Don't ya'll know how to read the 'Do not Disturb' sign?"

The doors lock clicked and it opened on squealing wheels, confirming what Merle had always thought. These folks obviously didn't know where their damn noses didn't belong.

That had always been the biggest frustration back when he and Daryl had been living in a camp under Shane's rule. They couldn't go hunting, couldn't eat, couldn't so much as take a piss without that bastard looking over their shoulder like he had every right too. He'd been suspicious of them from day one and it only served to make Merle all the more testy and impatient, prompting him to take that chance of a run into Atlanta just to get away from them all and have a little fun. Damn bastard was always breathing down their necks.

They had been planning on raiding the camp, but that was irrelevant.

Judging by the footsteps coming inside his cell and the door closing behind him, Merle wasn't getting out of this as fast as he'd like.

"Apparently I don't." Rick answered smoothly, pulling the chair from the corner and sliding it to the wall directly across from the bed, his eyes trained on Merle's hulking figure, balancing a plate of food. Merle observed him lazily through one cracked eyelid, a smirk coming to his face and his mouth watering at the thought of a meal.

"Officer Friendly's comin' out to play, eh?" He mumbled, an amused chuckle in his voice. "Whatchou gonna do boy? Interrogate me? My own brother finally stab me in the back and let you come up to rough me up or wha'?"

"Daryl isn't that kind of man. I'm pretty sure we both know that, but my top priority is group safety and I will resolve that how I see fit." Rick replied, his voice soft and smooth as velvet. "I came to have a calm, rational discussion."

Merle felt his eyebrow raise in challenge. Any other situation, it would have been a conversational tone but now, it was a thinly veiled threat. Rick's deadly calm could break any second and judging by that Python at his belt, it was Merle who would lose.

Take away that fucking gun and the odds were a lot more even.

Still, something in Merle's mind warned him to be wary. He'd pointed it out himself, this man was unstable and he had no plans on dying today. Despite his mocking, he had heard from Daryl about what Rick was capable of, seen some of it for himself. He didn't plan on getting into a real fight with that unless absolutely necessary... At least while he himself was unarmed.

"So, Officer Friendly ain't so friendly right now, eh?" He grinned, sitting up and feeling his stomach rumble at the sight of the food Rick was holding. Canned beans and some of the deer Daryl had caught earlier. A familiar meal from even before the dead started rising and he felt something in his chest ache at the nostalgia of it. "Let me guess, I'm gonna have to place nice to ge' my meal, righ'?"

Rick shrugged, offering Merle the plate and cutlery without hesitation, although Merle did notice the absence of a knife, butter or otherwise. "Not quite. You ain't a prisoner here, Merle. You're free to walk out any time and you came here on your own choice. We're just being cautious, we aren't going to withhold food or water. Speaking of water, do you want any?"

Merle reached for his bottle, shaking it for emphasis to show it was half full. He grabbed the plate without hesitation, shovelling in a mouthful of beans. It was cold and moist, the texture not particularly pleasant but his stomach rumbled in appreciation. He swallowed, giving a satisfied sigh. Rick watched him without emotion, his posture reasonably relaxed yet expectant. He was waiting for something.

Whatever, the fucker could wait.

Merle continued to devour the food, hardly chewing and not taking any care in how it looked. He was sure this asshole thought he was little more than a pig, why should he go and try to change that perception now? So he slurped and slopped, Rick never once looking away or showing even a twinge of disgust.

He just watched.

Fuck, this guy really was batshit. He didn't like to admit it, but even he found the unwavering gaze unnerving.

"Wha' exactly is it that you want?" He questioned, accidentally spraying little bits of deer out of his full mouth. "Cause if you ain't gonna say it, I don't know why you're still here."

"I told you, my number one concern is for the group." Rick answered, breathing heavily and rubbing at his temple as if he were talking to a child. "If I feel like there is a danger to them, then we have a problem. Are you going to be a problem Merle?"

"Why don't you just ask your little Korean boy down there, or maybe the black bitch?" Merle asked, waving his fork in the air in a mocking gesture. "They'll be more than happy to tell ya that I am rotten to the core. Safer to just put a bullet in my head. Or maybe handcuff me to a roof, leave me for dead. That's more your style, ain't it Sheriff?"

Rick's eyes flashed. "We'd take you out and drop you off somewhere, leave you with a knife for protection. I've been considering doing it regardless, but I hold your brother's opinion in high regard. He sees something in you, something that I never did. Mind you, I didn't know you too long and I am the reason you're missing a hand so I suppose I can see where your hesitation for an alliance comes from."

"Damn right." Merle hissed, his stump twinging at the reminder. He could still feel the hot Atlanta sun beating down on his back, the snarls of walkers pressing against the door as they tried to break in. The blood racing hot and thick down the cement, the agonizing pain of those first strokes and the catching of the saw blade as he hit bone...

His eyes darkened, a murderous glint in them. "I remember that just fine. You left me up there, a fate worse then I'd give anyone... 'Cept maybe my old man. Sure, I may not be the best ou' there, but even I didn't deserve tha'."

"I agree." Rick answered, his head bowing in what Merle could only assume was shame. "What happened to you is one of my bigger regrets. I'm sorry." But then his eyes sharpened, his muscles tensed and all sign of apology was gone. "But you forced my hand. You were being stupid and causing a disturbance. It was either restrain you or we all go down."

"Heard i' all before." Merle drawled, tossing the empty plate down on his mattress and leaning back, feeling content now that his stomach was full. "Daryl already chewed me out. Make ya' happy to hear that? Tha' my own flesh and blood sided with you? The man that di' it to me? Turned my own brother against me..."

Rick didn't answer although Merle didn't miss the moment of surprise cross his face. However, his expression smoothed so quickly that Merle almost wondered if it had ever truly been there, or just a trick of the light.

"We're getting off topic." Was Rick's response and Merle rolled his eyes.

"Dodgy little bastard, ain't ya?" Merle told his snidely, his nose wrinkling in distaste. "Too afraid to answer the hard questions? How you left me for dead and turned my very own flesh an' blood against me? You're a real piece o' work, aren't you? Deputy Rick _fuckin'_ Grimes."

Rick took a deep, steady breath, as if to calm his own racing pulse. Merle felt a twinge of satisfaction. He wasn't as calm about all this as he made out.

_Careful_, a small voice in the back of his mind warned him, the same voice he normally ignored whenever it tried to speak up. _You're walkin' a fine line_. _He could snap any second like the ol' man used to and then your brains are splattered all along that wall like a fuckin' Picasso. Daryl's protection may only get you so far._

"I wanted to thank you."

Merle's gaze sharpened, his eyes honing in on the ex-cops. He had thought perhaps it was a taunt, but there was no sign of deceit or sarcasm in his eyes. His own shadowed in suspicion.

"Wha' for?" He answered coolly, "I ain't done nothin'."

"You did." Rick said, each word completely monotone as if he was struggling to say them. "You saved me, back outside the prison. Daryl took one and you took out the other. Whether you remember or not, it doesn't matter. You did it and I do owe you for that."

"I was just killin' the biter." He answered, something odd and uncomfortable squirming in his gut. Must be the damn deer, he shoulda know there was something wrong with it. "Had nothin' to do with savin' your sorry ass."

"It doesn't matter. You still did." Rick shrugged, running a hand through his hair, his face suddenly years older then it had been just minutes before. "That and Daryl's word means I owe it to you to give you a chance." Merle opened his mouth to speak, but Rick cut him off.

"That doesn't mean I am going to be reckless and believe you're a changed man. You beat Glen to a pulp and while Michonne isn't exactly one of us, she has her reasons to be wary of you too. I'd be a fool not to heed their warnings. However, I'm going to give you a chance. But if you even so much as _look_ at one of us wrong and I will not hesitate to put you down on the spot."

Merle watched as Rick's hand casually stroked his pistol, the cold steel glinting in the weak light. "Do we have an understanding?"

Rick's eyes were harsh and unyielding as a knife. Merle never doubted the words for a second, but he wasn't one to sit like a whipped pup and be put in his place by some bastard with a gun.

"You think I'm scared o' you?" Merle chuckled. "I was raised by the devil himself. You don't scare me."

"I don't think you're afraid of dying." Rick let the gun go, clasping his hands in his lap and leaning forward, his gaze vaguely predatory but in control. "But I do think you're afraid of losing your brother again. He's agreed to cut you loose if there is need to. He'll stay with us."

Merle felt his anger spike suddenly, his eyes narrowing dangerously as his hands clenched. He tried not to imagine the satisfaction Rick must have felt at finally getting a reaction, knowing he was playing right into the mans hands. "Who the hell do you think you are, huh? We're blood and blood _always_ wins ou'! We stick togethe'! It's been me and him for as long as I can remember! Daryl wouldn't fucking _dare_!"

"Then why are you here?"

Merle snarled, lunging to his feet and barreling towards the ex-cop before he truly processed the thought to do so, his prosthetic already reeled back with the intention of smashing it in the mans face.

He froze, however, when the barrel of a gun materialised, pointed directly at his forehead. Rick's breathing was calm and even, his finger pressing the trigger firmly in a careful embrace. One little push would be all it took and Merle would be gone, a bullet straight through his skull.

"I think it's best if you sit down." Rick's voice broke through the haze, unafraid and almost soothing if not for the dangerous edge to it, like a blade passing through silk.

Merle didn't doubt he'd press that trigger without hesitation if he made a single wrong move.

Lowering his hands slowly, his eyes never leaving Rick's, he backed away and sat on his cot, his face deadly calm.

"You mean a lot to Daryl and you saved my life, but I am not risking the lives of all these people based on that." Rick continued as if he had never been interrupted, although he kept the reassuring weight of the gun in his hand, the limited trust Merle had had just seconds before now gone in a puff of smoke. "You're record ain't the best as far as working with others and I'm not a fool. You're the same as you ever were."

Merle thumped his stump into his palm, his rage building. His mouth stayed shut as he considered what to do, for once in his life considering his options before acting. It was a foreign way of thinking for him. Normally he just barreled in head first and hoped for the best. Sure, he made some damn stupid moves for the most part but he was still alive, wasn't he?

"That doesn't mean you can't change. You can try and become better for your brother." Rick glanced outside, his eyes focused on something Merle couldn't see from his position, just behind the wall. "We aren't unreasonable. It'll take time, but you can redeem yourself. It isn't too late, Merle."

"Wha' the fuck do you know." Merle hissed quietly. "You don't know _nothin'_ 'bout me. You think jus' cause you're tight with my little brother means I'll bend over and take it up the ass like he does? I ain't no pussy. I ain't your little pawn like he is."

"No, you were just the Governor's." Rick answered simply, ignoring's Merle's sharp look of warning, his own tone sharp. "I've heard from Michonne just how tight you two were. 'Cept I can promise you that I wouldn't make you fight your family to the death."

Merle huffed, wanting nothing more then to strangle the man before him. He wanted to rage and stomp and throttle the life from his body, just like his father used to try...

Merle shook his head roughly. He was nothing like that rat bastard, he_ wasn't_.

"Daryl isn't a pawn." Merle glanced up at the tone of voice and knew that he had crossed some line when it came to the ex-cops patience. Rick's muscles were tight and Merle realised the man was offended, no matter how much Rick tried to hide it behind a mask of indifference. "We're all family here, Daryl included."

"Then what does that make me?" Merle huffed, tilting his head slightly. "The crazy uncle? Oh, wait, that's you ain't it? Seeing things and talkin' to people. You're nuttier then a snickers bar, ain't ya?"

"You're still his brother and that does mean something." Rick raised his hand to the bridge of his nose as if working to relieve some pressure. "I'm not trying to pick a fight with you Merle. We need you to just... Calm down, try and fit in. That's all we're asking."

"I already tol' Daryl, I know that my days are numbered, just like yours are." Merle spat, ignoring the splatter of saliva that glistened on the cement floor. "I ain't gonna spend my final days lappin' at your heels."

"No, just locked in a cell." Rick sighed. "Something tells me that we aren't going to reach any sort of compromise today, not that I thought we would. I just want you to think it over Merle. We know the Governor is coming and we know he's out for blood. You can either sit here and wait for your execution at the hands of that mad man. Or," Rick paused, standing and brushing his hands off on his pants as he holstered his weapon. "You can fight with us. It's your choice."

Merle held his silence. Rick tapped the bars and Daryl immediately appeared from behind the corner, presumably having listened in on every word that had just been said.

Sneaky little son of a-

"Just think on it." Rick insisted as the door slid open and he stepped out. "I'm no fool, I know you are a valuable asset and, regardless of the front you put on, a loyal man."

The door clicked shut, signalling once again the flight of his freedom as it left him once more.

Rick observed him for a moment longer, hands on his hips, before marching off down the steps, rejoining the rest of the group. Daryl hung behind, his eyes darting between Merle and Rick. Both men he considered brothers.

"You really shoul' just... Try." Daryl said, gesturing to the metal bars that kept him contained. "It don't have to be like this."

Merle flopped back on his mattress, ignoring his younger brother completely. He heard Daryl hesitate, almost like he was going to say something more, before he left, leaving Merle to his thoughts.

He hated this damn cage.

He hated that he was stuck here, with no where else to turn.

He hated that he relied on his brother so much. If he had just left, let that ungrateful little whelp continue on his merry way and Merle had trekked out on his own, he wouldn't have to put up with this political bullshit.

He hated that he knew the people he was going to have to team up with. That he was going to have to forget about his hands and Atlanta and all those days struggling to survive before he found Woodbury if this was going to work.

He hated that _fucking cop_. He was the reason he was missing a limb, the reason he was in this situation to begin with! The man that had stolen his brother away from him, someone he had once had been so close with now nothing more than a dot in the distance. He didn't even recognise Daryl anymore.

He hated that he was even considering this.

What he hated most was that he knew what he needed to do.

* * *

Rick stalked along the cells, sleep evading him once more as he tried to catch some sleep as night fell over the prison. Darkness cloaked the haunted halls, shrouding their sanctuary into something foreign and sinister. Hiding monsters in its shadows and reminding them of what they had lost.

What they could still lose.

Carl was up in the guard tower keeping watch around the perimeter while Michonne and Daryl checked the fences and insured that no one had caused a weakness in their defences, cutting through the chain link to allow the desperate walkers inside. Judith was finally asleep again, an exhausted Beth and Carol curled up together in her room after working to soothe the child. The others continued to slumber and Rick allowed himself a small smile to see Glenn and Maggie finally sharing a room once more, although Glen had been banished to the bottom bunk with Maggie sleeping above him.

Then he came to the locked cell and his smile dropped.

He hesitated, the moonlight illuminating the bars but nothing behind them, a thick blanket of darkness hiding Daryl's older brother from view. He watched, no movement betraying Merle's position from the inside. Rick turned, assuming the man to be asleep and walked away, heading out to relieve Carl of his watch duty.

"I'll do it."

Rick paused, turning back to the cell. Merle leaned against the bars, his arm and prosthetic dangling through them he watched Rick with emotionless blue eyes. So like his brothers and yet, the exact opposite.

"I'll try." Merle corrected, "I won't go pickin' fights no more and I'll work by... By your groups side."

Rick tilted his head, trying to discern Merle's sincerity. "You're only going to get one chance at this."

Merle's smirk rose, the lopsided tilt of his mouth a little strained. "Then I bette' not fuck this up then, eh?"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

Merle didn't wait for any more words, instead turning and sitting back down on his 'bed', feeling a little relieved at being able to say those words without spitting what he really thought of the cop.

Whether he wanted to or not, he would need to try. He couldn't leave out on his own and he couldn't return to Woodbury.

He had no choice.

Daryl was here, he'd found his brother once again despite all the odds. He _needed_ to stay here, stay with him, and if this is where Daryl had chosen to stay...

Merle sighed. He supposed if this was where Daryl wanted to be, then for now, it was home.

He's just have to try.


End file.
